


Waegukin

by voodoochild



Category: Glee
Genre: Asian Character, Awesome Ladies Ficathon, Gen, Racism, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-06-27
Updated: 2010-06-27
Packaged: 2017-10-10 07:31:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/97209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voodoochild/pseuds/voodoochild
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tina is Korean, not Chinese.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waegukin

**Author's Note:**

> Written for LadyFest '10, for the prompt "I don't speak Chinese, I'm Korean". Minor spoilers for whichever episode it is that Artie finds out about Tina's stutter.

_Ni hao_, they say to her.

It doesn't matter who. The well-meaning woman in the supermarket when she goes food shopping with Mom. The coach at Robbie's soccer game. Dad's assistant, when she goes into the office to meet him for lunch. They smile; wide, toothy, American grins, and Tina doesn't know when she started thinking of other people as "Americans" and herself as "Korean-American".

But _ni hao_, they say, and smile expectantly. They think they're making her more comfortable, speaking to her in "her" language. Tina doesn't know what to do, knows that everyone's speaking to her in Chinese.

_Annyeong haseyo_, she wants to say in return. _Kamsa hamnida. Dang-si-neun teulidah._

Hello. Thank you very much, but you're wrong.

But Tina's always had trouble speaking. She turns her Korean into Chinese because it's easier, the same reason she layered a stutter over her English - because it let her hide. She doesn't know what might happen if she finally says what she means.

_Xie-xie ni_, she says instead, looking down at the ground.

**Author's Note:**

> waegukin - foreigner (Korean)  
> ni hao - hello (Chinese)  
> xie-xie ni - thank you (Chinese)


End file.
